all the testees got caught in the thunderstorm during the start-of-the-test run from the school to the Berkeley Marina and back, and staggered in drenched to all their bones.

It's krav. I'm sure they arranged it.

It was pretty brutal. Emmett was by far the youngest person there at age 14. I think the next closest testees in age were at least a decade older.

The original run was much harder than I had anticipated because of the downpour.

They ran two miles to the Berkeley Marina. Half of that was on loose gravel alongside train tracks.

Then they had to run up a construction site's big hills of dirt. Five times. In a downpour. With the mud pulling their shoes off. While doing a fireman's carry of somebody of comparable weight. (Emmett's partner weighted 160.)

Then an army crawl across the gravel. Then an army crawl through a drainage stream. (His clothes are so so filthy that they made the tub water I rinsed them in almost black.)

Then another two mile run back in the rain.

A short break to change clothes, eat protein bars and drink sports drinks.

Then three hours of review of material. Punching, kicking, falls, breaking choke holds etc.

Then they get the test. Which didn't last an hour but more like 80 minutes.

Fortunately Emmett's partner was close to him in weight and was very patient, since as Emmett got tired he was hitting more grazing punches as he had less control.

At exactly five hours and fifty minutes into it, Emmett briefly lost his shit. I could see he was crying and his partner asked him if he wanted to stop. But he took a second to compose himself, and slowed his breathing, and then came back to finish the last half hour.

I thought it was just breaking from fatigue but he told me later that his throat closed up a bit and he was having trouble breathing and it scared him. But the regulated breathing got him back on track within a couple minutes and he was fine.

He doesn't have asthma as far as I know, but he generally has problems running longer distances, and certainly running in the rain didn't help.

Anyway. He did it. He finished. And he didn't just flop around, he was still doing hard punch combinations and reminding his partner of proper technique, and how to do each drill up to the end.

Not too shabby for fourteen years old. His teacher (a hardass Israeli military type) said, "He did great!"

After the test they celebrated. They wolfed down BBQ wings, and after we traversed the Bridge I got Emmett into a hot tub, and gave him some Ibuprofen and he was very, very, very happy indeed to get into his bed.

Wow. Emmett is my hero.

Awesome that Emmett went through the whole thing.

He doesn't have asthma as far as I know

Honestly, mine wasn't diagnosed for a long time. And it's not bad, usually. It's generally nothing. But when mine gets really annoyed, from allergies for me, it's this weird thing where there just isn't air like I expect there to be. It's kinda hard to breathe but it's not really what I assumed textbook asthma was.

My asthma is only really a problem with massive allergies so now I am aware of it now that I live in the worst place I can.

--

Just "met" and talked to my neighbor about how mom is coming tomorrow for a week and they can't be loud cause she'll hear way more than me. Hopefully that'll work. I hate being the bitch when it's just dumb. Hopefully we're all cool.

Oh, yay, Emmett!! That's just awesome. Good for him.

Thanks. I'm proud of him.

And it's not bad, usually. It's generally nothing. But when mine gets really annoyed, from allergies for me, it's this weird thing where there just isn't air like I expect there to be. It's kinda hard to breathe but it's not really what I assumed textbook asthma was.

I think that might be it - something that doesn't manifest except under extreme duress.

Something to talk about with the doctors.

Something to talk about with the doctors.

If you've got the insurance / coverage / vague medical things, it's an easy test actually. It was something I found out a long time ago in Phoenix during allergy testings of all things. It wasn't massively useful in my life until I moved to Portland. Now it's something I am really aware of and careful of, but also something that is relatively easily dealt with between medication and lifestyle awareness.

Congratulations to Emmett! That's extremely impressive!

Good work, Emmett. It's a great brand of torture.

I know no one's paying attention to me, but a purist portion of my brain gives myself demerits for genre and culture-mixing wardrobe. Two demerits tonight, ita. And where did my pencil go? I need my pencil!

I take it back. One demerit. Or I couldn't wear the Moroccan scarf with anything.

I seem to have prematurely run out of internet.